Reddit reviews Micro Sol Setting Solution, 1 oz by Microscale Industries
We found 10 Reddit comments about Micro Sol Setting Solution, 1 oz by Microscale Industries. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Microscale BMF128 Micro Sol setting solution MSSOL
Mirco-sol, baby. Softens the decal, makes it conform to the contours, and makes it look a lot more like paint.
Another method (in addition to varnishing) is to use Micro Set and Micro Sol. Brush the Micro Set on the surface before you apply the decal, and then brush on Micro Sol after the decal is in place. Micro Sol softens the decal medium and causes it to conform to the surface. It's really good for making it seem like the transfers are painted on.
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Setting-Solution-Microscale-Industries/dp/B0006O9K5Q/
The console decal took quite a bit of fiddling to get it just right. If it was just a hair off in any direction, it would bunch up around the shifter hole. The dash laid down great, but with the trim rings and switches, I had to hit it over and over with Micro Sol until it finally flattened out.
That looks fantastic, dude!
Mind if I offer a little advice? Use Micro Sol on your decals after they are applied. It dissolves the film, leaves the ink, and gets rid of that "decal sheen" like you see there.
I use this and this for my water decals. Love the way the decals come out.
As a preface this was my first Gunpla model coming back to the hobby and taking it a little more seriously. I built a few no grade and a couple HG Gundam Wing sets back in my youth when Gundam Wing was big and Toonami was still around.
So I picked up this RG Qan[T] knowing next to nothing about 00 Gundam but just liked the design of the suit. I may look into a higher grade of the suit in the future (MG probably)
A lot of you guys might recognize me as Thu from the group Discord. If you are not yet a member of the Discord I highly recommend it. A great friendly community and I have quite a few people I owe everything I've learned about Gunpla to.
I'm gonna do a few posts of the three completed builds I've finished since starting again, and I'd like to detail my growth through out them so hopefully I can offer some help to others growing in the hobby. If you want to ask me any questions feel free to message me here or reach out to me on the Discord channel. I'm Thu#3048, friend me if you like.
I began building this around early October and wrapped up the build probably late November.
The Build:
Overall the snapfitting process of this suit is like most of the other RG's I've done now, it's pretty sturdy and doesn't really risk parts falling off. My only complaint is the arm holding the shield isn't the most sturdy and risks disconnecting quite frequently.
It has a solid few gimmicks to it that are pretty sweet but using all the blades to form the huge sword is probably the best. Unfortunately it is way too heavy for the model to hold up on it's own.
This being my first painted kit I used a NEO Airbrush, Vallejo primer, paint and top coat (varnish in Vallejo's case). Vallejo has great colored acrylic paints and I recommend them if you're looking for the least toxic options out there. Be aware those they are water based acrylics, and because of that it tends to dry on the needle of your air brush and it becomes a mildly annoying sticking point to clean the nozzle and needle in the air brushing process. In a few longer sessions (around an hour and a half) I would have to do it maybe up to three times. That being said it's very easy to clean your brush (just water will do fine most of the time) and spraying a windex solution through there will clean it out. Acrylics are great for when you're getting the hang of it, if you mess up, just plop the piece in a bowl of windex and then brush it with a soft bristle toothbrush to remove the paint layers.
There are not yet any available water slide decals for this kit so I opted to pick up the HG decals, and although there are a few ratio differences between this kit and the HG despite the HG being also 1/144. But I felt satisfied with them in the end, and tailored a few to suit my own flair.
For panel lining I simply thinned grey (for white and yellow) and black (all other colors) enamel paint using Ronsonol lighter fluid. Although I found this technique effective enough, the lighter fluid evaporates very quickly so in the end some panel lines were more pronounced (when it was less thinned) than others (when I added back thinner). Which to me left the panel lines a little inconsistent.
What I learned in this build
This kit was a lot of firsts for me, but in a quick way:
Snapfit
Painting
Decals & Panel Lines
($7). I found this was more than adequate and did the job great, found them at my local Hobby Town.'
Top Coat
Learning Resources
I have to admit I camped the tutorials linked in the subreddit wiki, asked a hundred new builder questions in Discord, and tried a lot of things people suggested. Without a doubt if you're a gunpla builder beginner or not, join the Discord and get involved, there's a great community there.
I would skip the gundam markers entirely, you will probably find yourself not really needing them. any small color additions are better off done with a brush.
As far as the waterslides, the Sazabi comes with waterslide decals. to get this style of decal to conform to irregular surfaces and to make them appear as though they are painted on, you use solvents to soften and melt the decal material once you have it in place. Link Here
If you don't have an airbrush the recommended topcoat would be Mr. Hobby topcoat.
I thought I was going to have trouble too but it fit over the hole without any issues. The micro-sol really helped curve the decals over the bends very well.
Micro-Sol:
http://www.amazon.com/Microscale-Industries-BMF128-Setting-Solution/dp/B0006O9K5Q
I'm going to take the minority position here, and say that it could be greatly improved. Some comments, then some suggestions. That assumes that what I'm seeing isn't just distortions from the canopy.
Some suggestions (applicable even if what we're seeing is just distortion, and in case helpful):
Examples: I don't have the best examples, but I built a F/A-18E (probably the same one, if it's the Revell one) some years ago when I was starting back out, and did the same cockpit:
https://imgur.com/a/243ojdU (photos of a Revell 1/48 F-18E cockpit. I left the screens "blank" leaving out the powered on screen decals. I used setting solution instead of cutting it into pieces. Also there is a photo of Revell's F-15E panels. It wasn't done at the time, so there's gloss clear paint where there shouldn't be, but you get the idea about how you can conform the decals).
Hope that helps. Let's see some photos of the rest of it!
RE: your shoulder pad decals..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CW4NV8/ref=dp_prsubs_2
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Got a nice-ish inkjet printer? Print your own! Trim them as close to the finished print out as possible (pro tip when experimenting, print near the bottom of the sheet so it can be used again and again until you like the size/shape) then put this stuff on top of the decal after you use it:
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O9K5Q/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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You should have some pretty nice looking decals when all is said and done.
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